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Thursday, October 20, 2011

Croissant

The other day Jane saw my Ham Chim Peng post and she tak boleh tahan (can’t wait) and tempted her to try. On the other hand, I saw her Bourke Street Croissant and I also tak boleh tahan (can’t wait) and tempted to try, hahaha..Later her sister Helena also made. I told them how nice if three of us are living nearby, then must be very fun, we will non-stop baking and eating, hehehe..I love croissant, usually I will take croissant first whenever I take buffet breakfast in a hotel…

The most delicious croissant I took was in Switzerland at Hotel Gasthof Tiefenau. They serve croissant daily and other types of pastry, all were yummy. I hope one day I can visit this hotel again and learn making croissant from the chef here. Dream first !!

I did not try Bourke Street recipe this time, as it look quite complicated, I wait till I have confident then I will try this recipe. Instead I tried a recipe that I found in a French’s lady blog (I supposed she is a French) and use Google translate into English. Why I choose her recipe, because I like her dough laminating process (i.e. incorporating butter into the dough) by spreading the butter (under room temperature) but not like the usual recipe which requires to incorporating cold butter into dough that I feel is not easy to handle.

shaping

This time I still failed on the laminating part, butter still leak out and torn layer. Next time, i must try to do in a air-cond room.

I got very flaky crust if I followed the recipe to bake at 240c for 12mins but it looks burnt. I tried to adapt the Bourke Street method which pre-heated 240c and change to 190c for 12-15mins, nicer colour but the crust is not so flaky. Actually i prefer the first "chow tar" croissant because the flaky crust and nice aorma, eventhough it look dark,.

The taste of this croissant is there, very close to that one i had in Switzerland, nice aroma, flaky and fluffy, but I was little bit disappointed of the texture inside, not many layers and quite soft. I blamed myself of poor handling of laminating process.

Latest Update!! I was wrong!! my son Desmond just took this croissant, and i can see the multi-layers. I guess it need some time to dry out. The above croissant wan taken just few minutes came out from oven this morning, thatswhy the texture inside still look soft. So happy to see this result!

To make dough
1. Mix yeast, warm water and sugar in a small bowl for 5mins.
2. Heat the milk until lukewarm, then dissolve salt and sugar in the milk.
3. Add flour, yeast mixture and oil in a mixing bowl. Slowly add in milk mixture and combine well.
4. Knead the dough until smooth. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
5. Let dough rise at room temperature for 3hours or until triple in size. (I only wait for 1hour)

Folding
1. Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a large rectangle of 14 x 8 inch (35 cm x 20 cm).
2. Spread butter on 2 / 3 of the dough and fold in 3 (The non-buttered the middle, then the last 1 / 3 above). Cover with plastic sheet and refrigerate for 30mins.
3. Take the dough out of the fridge and rotate the dough 90 degree so that the dough will be rolled in opposite direction from previous fold. Repeat this folding and resting process twice more.
4. After the final round, refrigerate the dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, 5 hours or overnight.

Shaping
1. On floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle 15 in. x 6 in. (38 cm x 15 cm ).
2. Using a pizza cutter, cut triangles 3 inches (7.5 cm) core.
3. Starting from the base and roll up towards the tip, pressing the tip of triangle to make the triangle longer. Pull away two corners at the base and roll it towards the tip to secure.
4. Place croissants 2inches (5cm) apart from each other on the baking pan lined with parchment paper.
5. Cover with plastic wrap/cloth and let rise for 1hour in a warm place (72F/22C) or until they have doubled in size.

Baking
1. Preheat oven to 475F (240C).
2. Mix the egg yolk with a teaspoon of water, then brush on the croissants.
3. Bake the croissants in the oven for 12mins, until top is golden OR reduce oven temp to 190C and bake for about 15 mins, or until a deep golden colour.
4. Remove the croissants from the oven and place on wire rack. Cool slightly on tray before serving.

Hi Sonia,If ever you are in Sydney, you must go and try the real deal.My family and I love to go there for our breakfast and of course the croissant is the best.Infact, their croissants look very much like your first batch...all very burnt looking( chow-tah)but I guess that gives the croissant that nice aroma.Their lemon curd tart is also nice.Yours looks good...especially the burnt ones...lol!

No worries Sonia, I'm sure your next batch will be a better one. It is definitely not easy to make a batch of good croissants especially in such a hot & humid country. But you are pretty good on your maiden attempt, jia you!

Sonia, you ladies are making me taboleh tahan too. This croissant have been in my mind since I saw it at Jane's corner, but need courage to give it a go. Now, your buttery croissant seems to be calling for me, looks full of flavor. Since Jane is siding further, can I move near to u instead, I love to be your neighbor :) how nice if we are next to each other, everyday high tea haha...Ok,ok, I shall stop dreaming and be hardworking like you. Will give this a try during the school holiday. Thanks for sharing, Sonia!

Sonia, yes I do agree with u that the best croissant that I ever tasted is in Switzerland too, I even asked the guy for the recipe, it looks like yr butter has melted as the room temp is extremely important for croissant. Anyway, I guess the taste is still as nice. :)

I love croissant..and I had one this morning (ahem, it's from costco...). I better not to look how much butter is in there. I can totally ignore that part if I can have nice freshly baked croissant. I didn't know that's how you enjoy the croissant in Malaysia. I really want to visit Malaysia (and your home to eat everything you cook!!!).

Wow! what a great croissant, I'll try this recipe. Hm..., I've been away for along time but still keep following your blog though. I just would like to inform you that a culinary tabloid which I subscribe since year 2000 is now online. This tabloid gives lots of creative traditional recipes through-out Indonesia. Please visit http://www.sajiansedap.com/,you might find it interesting. Thank's for sharing your recipes and see you again on your next post.

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Hi Sonia ,Thanks for your reply :) I forgot to ask that if I skip the yeast activation, do I have to add the 45ml of warm water into the dough making or just the 125ml of milk will be enough? Thank you so much.